Okay,

So i have a 97 eclipse, 420a motor and a manual transaxle. I just had a new motor put in 3 weeks ago and noticed some increased difficulty in shifting after I got the car back. The car labored to get into 1st gear and the clutch seemed a bit hard. I bled the clutch hydraulics system thinking that there was possibly some air that may have gotten into the system and that seemed to help. There was still some difficulty in getting the car into first gear and I noticed that when shifting from 1st to 2nd gear the gears sometimes ground. I took it back to the shop and talked with the technician and he said that my clutch master and slave cylinder were going out and he noticed that same thing when the car was in the shop. I haven't replaced those yet because 1 I haven't had the time and 2 wasn't fully convinced that was the problem. Now I have what seems to be a fully manifested problem that i'm completely lost on. While driving the car seemed to not want to go into gear when shifting from first to second but instead of getting the grinding noise, that was less prominent but was now replaced with the motor revving like the car was in neutral. The same was to be said for 3rd and reverse. So only 1st 3rd and 5th worked. There were no burning smells and no fluids that i could see. So i started my troubleshooting. With the vehicle in neutral, I can move the shift lever and select shift lever on the top of the transaxle and place the car into gear. Also with someone in the car holding the car in 2nd 4th or reverse I can move the levers on the transaxle to have the car go into those gears. Initially after that I thought it was an issue with the shfit cable. So I ripped apart the center console and checked the cables using a diagram I found online. I couldn't make the suggested adjustments to the shifter cable because I couldn't get a wrench back far enough to loosen the cable nut so i just put everything back together. Now for some reason the car will go into any of the top gears 1st 3rd or 5th but will not come out of gear. I don't think its an issue with the transmission because i can still put the car into each gear using the levers on the transaxle. At this point I'm stopping to get my bearings so i don't cause any potential damage. I'm thinking that it's either an issue with the cables or the likange. Any ideas/help would be greatly appreciated.

You have two linkages that attatch to a black mount on top of your transmission towards the back. They are held in place with two "U" shaped push clips (not sure what thier actual name is). Check to make sure that when tugging on your cables themselves, they do not move away from the mounting bracket. This will mean that the push clip isn't situated properly.

I had a simmilar problem with my car. After I put everything back together the shifts were really sloppy. The clips are pretty tricky, they may feel like they're in right, but they'll come loose or even fall out without warning.

I had a similar problem with my car. My problem was the cable that controlled the lower gears had come apart at the trans. There is a boot on the cable that keeps tension so that when you shift gears the cable stays straight. Well my boot came apart which allowed the cable to bend not allowing for the tension needed to move the shifter on the trans.